If You Told Me That Alabama Could Turn Blue …

If you told me the Alabama race for the U.S. Senate seat would end like this …

I’m going to be honest with you. I was fully ready to go off today, but a miracle happened: Doug Jones won the Senate seat vacated by one Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. This was totally unexpected result, but it was a close one.

I loosely followed the news about this race, but I knew the odds were against Democrats running in a deep red state. Democrat Doug Jones had never run for office before, Donald Trump carried the state of Alabama in 2016 by 28 points, and the last time a Democrat held a U.S. Senate seat for Alabama, Richard Shelby had won reelection 25 years ago. (Richard Shelby became a Republican in 1994; he still holds his seat in the Senate.)

Coming into Tuesday, December 12, 2017, Jones trailed in most polls. Despite the allegations against Republican Roy Moore, the former judge was expected to win. Yet in the end, the race was a very close one.

All eyes were on Alabama because a Moore election would have serious implications for the Republican Party, the state, the nation, and political discourse in this country. A Jones win would be a good sign for the Democratic Party. Regardless, this was a lose-lose situation for Republicans.

Now, what does this mean for the Democrats? I don’t have a complete answer, but let’s look at what transpired and see what we can find.